My perpective is pretty much everywhere. I the darkness of the vamppires but I also love the like and understanding of them too. When I write about them, I have to say that it depends on the story more than my perpective of vampires.

I like a good juicy vampire, that is (much like this world) not totally good or evil. The thing is, from a human perspective, how would you feel if you saw something that isn't supposed to exist? Freaking Scared as heck is what! But, like I said, things are not always as they seem, so unless your version of a vampire is soulless, then chances are, they aren't 100% evil either. That's just the way of the world. lol

My vampires in my story (Vampires of Takasaki High) are basically human. Okay, maybe not really.
Things they can do:
Walk in the sun
Drink human, animal and other vampire blood
Run really fast
Have super hearing
Read the minds of those who they share blood with
Take control of other vampires through blood links
Create other vampires via venom from their fangs
Put up with crosses (no religious stuff hurts them)
Have family-like covens
Eyes turn red only when they’re hungry – otherwise their eyes are normal colors
Never age and live forever
Things they CAN'T do:
Get rained on (holy water directly from heaven)
Not a whole lot of restrictions, huh? So, they're pretty much super human...but apart from the cool stuff they can do, they basically just lead normal lives.
Check my story (shameless plug) if you wanna see my vampires in action :-)
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2302867/1/Vampires_of_Takasaki_High

In a lot of the stories i write, I always like to make supernatural creatures less fantastical and more realistic so readers can relate more to them. For example one staple fact about Vampires in some of my stories is that the reason Vampires drink blood is because either one: their blood cannot create its own hemoglobin and thus must continually drink the blood of others to attain it, or two: Vampires have and extreme iron deficiency and must attain iron through other's blood. The reason for their strength and speed as that they have a mutated for of Adrenaline constantly running through their body and gives them amazing abilities.

Dark vampires, but yet amazingly I love sweet OMG pitiful you just want to protect them vampires. Can I explain my vampires? Prepare.

They are amazingly graceful, can run at the speed of light, super strong. They have coal black eyes . . . and are shockingly pale. They can also see into the future.

Venom runs through their veins, therefore they are still alive, their heart still beats and they grow older, but they stop aging at sixty and then only have six years to help educate young vampires, then they die. Their venom is personal to them, it is like their DNA, quite similar to their parents and siblings. Therefore the only way to kill a vampire is to put someone elses venom in their veins. It hurts like hell. You can't tear them apart. Only poision them.

Yes thats my vampires practically wound up. If they starve they go all crazy and kill anything with blood in them. They can also develop a disease which means that if they drink human blood they go on a feeding frenzy.

Right ok, wooo! Hell yeah! I love vampires, oh and they are cold, they smell nice, when they breathe on someone that person is then in their control, oooh and if they bite someone they can numb their pain and force them to pass out.

My opinion on vampires: they are cold, calculating, and uncaring monsters. The only things they care about are protecting their unlives and achieving status. They want to be the top dogs in their petty kingdoms and they will step on anyone who gets in the way. Other people, humans or vampires, are nothing but pawns to manipulate or threats to be eliminated. Vampires exist on their own with no true friends.

Vampires are immortal animated corpses. They are the result of a person whose selfish and egotistical willingness to exist outlasts their mortal body. As a result, they're all mind. They have no fire in their bellies, so to speak. These things don't get h***, don't fall in love, or don't create art. Vampires are not beautiful or passionate. Sure, they're not rotting and they don't smell bad, but their skin is extremely pale and clammy. They are dead things.

Other than that they have the "normal" characteristics of modern vampires. They can't go into the sun (they've traded the life and warmth of the sun for the cold comfort of the grave) and die when burned or staked (or decapitated). Using unnatural magics they are stronger, faster, and tougher than normal people (though this is magical strength, not physical strength). They are created after being bitten by another vampire and require blood from humans to exist. They are parasites.

In my opinion (because they are unnatural instead of natural, chilly instead of fiery, dead insead of fully alive) they are the opposites of werewolves.

Originally, in ancient times, Vampires were a completely separate species. Using Dark Magic, they were engineered to be a type of weapon in the Dark Army. They were a type of supernatural parasite if you will, that fed only on blood. Whenever they bit thier prey, they would infect them with thier venom that would proceede immobilize the victim while they were feeding. Humans that went out alone at night or wondered into dark caves would often become thier victims and never be seen again, and those that did survive would die shortly after being fed on from the massive amount of blood loss. However, a small number of human victims survived some of the attacks. Those who survived would become forever changed. The venom of the Vampires, once mixed with human blood, would trigger a change that would make a different kind of vampire. These Vampires, unlike the things that had bitten them, were not mindless creatures, these were people who had been infected with a disease.

Vampires are immortal. Immortal meaning they can live virtually forever, provided they don't get themselves killed. Vampires, although able to eat human food, need to feed on blood because they themselves cannot produce some key nutrients to survive on thier own. Because of this, they must drink the blood of humans or animals or else they will grow weak and die. Another characteristic inherited from the creatures that made them is their aversion to sunlight. Vampires are unable to withstand the radiation in the suns rays and are severely burned by the slightest sunlight. While they can go out into the sun, they will immediately start to burn and because of this, they typically avoid sunlight all together. Ultraviolet Light also has this affect on them. Silver will severly injure and weaken a Vampire but it is not the only way to kill them. Like all other beings that live and breathe, Vampires can be killed in a variety of ways, though they are still tougher and much more powerful than humans. They can rapdly heal from wounds that would kill or maim a human. They have superhuman strength, faster than normal reflexes and a variety of other abilities. All this stems from the Dark Magic that created the original Vampire beasts.

This same Dark Magic also binds them into the service of the Dark Army. Within the Dark Army, Vampires are the equivalent of special forces operatives, given that they largely inhabit the Earth and the World of Darkness in which the Dark Army resides. However since modern day Vampires were once human, not all of them enter the service of the Dark Army. A small faction of them actually fights against the Dark Army so they can be free from their control. Despite this most Vampires, once bitten, undergo psychological as well as physical changes, and choose to become part of the Dark Army.

My perspective is that they are ultimately creatures of darkness. After all, at the end of the day (or night) it's a being that sustains itself by killing others. I don't mind having a few nice vampires like Seras Victoria from Hellsing or Mick St. John from Moonlight but generally they should be villians (like Kurt Barlow from 'Salem's Lot) or at least antiheros (like Alucard from Hellsing). To me the vampire reflects humanity's dark side: they are greedy, bloodthirsty, and either ammoral or immoral. I'm thinking about using vampires in an upcoming story of mine, it already has a werewolf in it. It's basicly about the science of a "Utopian" post-apocolyptic society clashing the dark legends of the past.

The vampires in the story I'm writing were originally created by Lucifer after his fall to bring into submission the exisiting race of demons. They have a neurtoxin of sorts in their saliva that causes demons to be caught between their two forms. But the demons of my story are another topic alltogether. There are three types of vampires:

One: Sanguine vampires, which is obviously those that feed upon the blood of others, whether it be human, animal, or upon occasion another vampire.

Two: Psychic vampires, which is also obviously those that feed upon the psychic energy or life force of others.

And lastly: A rare form of vampires that feed the way many spiders do. Not only do they have the neurotoxin the other vampires do, but they have another venom that, like a spider's, liquefies the insides of whatever they bite. These vampires have no name, they are merely referred to as the Servants of the Light Bringer.

Physically my vampires look much like humans when first turned with the exception of the rare form of vampire but as they age their skin becomes porcelain and their eyes deepen til the eyes turn black. They have superstrength and an accelerated healing rate. The older the vampire gets the more immunity to holy objects grows. Also, only holy objects that have been directly blessed by a holy man have an effect on them. So if you just go out and buy a cross, it won't do any good. Ankhs that have been blessed by a priest or priestess of the old Egyptian faith have a greater effect than Christian crosses.

Personality wise, my vampires tend to be angry and arrogant at the same time. The older vampires have only one thing on their mind and that is to bring the Demons into submission. The younger vampires believe that life is a party basically. They are here for self gratification.They have no regard for the hierarchy of vampiric society.

My perspective of vampires varies. There are too many legends to go with so I like to watch old movies like Dracula, and Nosferatu to get some ideas. Usually though, my vampires tend to be more human than not. Depending on the vampire, I believe they have a dark and bored stature about them. If you could live forever wouldn't you be quite bored after awhile?

The thing about saying they have an iron deficiency sounds like a marvelous idea, except that there is a real disease called porphyria that is all too much like it. Pophyria is this disease where the person can blister in the sun because of a metobolism deficiency. People with the disease can't make enough of their own blood and sometimes they can be treated by heme (blood) injections. It's an interesting concept really.

If you're into some really neat legends look up stuff on Vlad the Impaler or Elizabeth Bathory.

A deficiency of hemoglobin is called anemia, and the main result is iron deficiency. It is a really common disease that can be easily treated by iron supplements.

My favorite vampires tend to be evil, bloodsucking monsters that are not quite dead, but not truly alive either. I like the idea of vampires being unable to go out during the day, needing to be invited inside, being unable to go near garlic, and other such admittedly cliche myths. In my mind, a monster is not scary if it has no weaknesses or is so superpowerful that there is no use in even trying to fight it. For me, the scariest and therefore most interesting vampires are the ones you can try to fight and yet fail to beat, in spite of the fact that they have multiple weaknesses. Vampires are predators, and thus they are very clever and (usually) know how to get around their weaknesses.

Although, I am currently toying with an idea for a novel length story in which vampires are very similar to humans, with their own complex culture and societal rules. These vampires have a small group who call themselves "human-rights activists," and they advocate for the ethical treatment and ethical killing of food. The main characters would not be a part of this group. The group would, in fact, harm the vampire society and nearly expose them to humans.

Personally, I like the continuity of the old legends, but with the idea that some of the ideas came from "old wives tales" that people told themselves to make themselves feel safe. Vampires are human in appearance and have heightened senses (particularly smell, hearing, and vision, especially at night) and physical abilities (strength, speed, and agility all balanced by precise control). Psychic abilities, such as the ability to hypnotize, control, or "call" a victim through dreams, are not unheard of, but these gifts are not a guaranteed part of immortality. They can be injured by most normal means, but they would heal very quickly and killing them is a little more specific: the traditional wooden implement through the heart, severing of the head, or burning. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight would eventually weaken and kill the vampire, but brief periods in indirect light would be tolerable. Barring assassination or a really bad accident, a vampire could live indefinitely. I harbor no religious prejudices against vampires, nor would the divine. Ergo, no reaction to crosses or holy water, but most vampires would be too superstitious to test it. To me, vampires are not just about killing, they are sensuality in all its forms. Vampires symbolize seduction, mainly for the purpose of luring in a meal, but sometimes the "victim" shares in the benefits.

Vampires are the ultimate predator, which makes it very difficult for them to relate to humans. It's like expecting the shark to make nice with the fishies. They are cynical, selfish, and emotionally detached. They are loners for the most part who sometimes establish partnerships of convenience to satisfy social, economic, or sexual needs. Even the creation, or siring, of a new vampire is a selfish act in which the sire creates a companion or even a servant in order to meet their own needs or further an agenda. Whether or not they are "evil" or " damned" is a difficult question because the nature of good and evil is such an abstract and personal one. Do they commit atrocious acts because they are damned or are they damned because they commit atrocious acts? It is within each individual to determine the course of his or her existence. Most are either too jaded or too corrupted by power to bother with respect or compassion for what they consider their next meal.

Because of these considerations, for a vampire to choose a more difficult path in order to "do the right thing" is a rare and special event. The vampire in question might arrive at this decision through many possible circumstances including, but not limited to: 1. Guilt for past transgressions, 2. Disenchantment with a reality that does not quite live up to the promises of the sire, or 3. Dramatic shift in emotional circumstances or traumatic event. This is where the concept of the "good" vampire comes into play. This is the vampire with a conscience who is tormented by self-loathing and a desparate longing for the mortal life that he or she can no longer have. This is the "dark hero" vampire about whom so many stories are written. Ironically, the abilities that make him a lethal hunter are also the ones that make him the ultimate protector. No one would be better suited to protecting a fragil human than a vampire (if, of course, he can manage not to kill her himself). The struggle against his nature, or what he considers his nature, is often considered a fatal flaw in his character, but the heroine of the story inevitably recognizes that it is the struggle to retain what is left of his humanity that is the truest marker of his worth.

Ultimately, there are only two possible outcomes to the "romantic" variety of the vampire story (as opposed to the "horror" genre) and those are: 1. The vampire completes a task or tasks set to him by a devine entity and regains his soul/humanity/mortality so that he may live a normal life with his lover, or 2. He is unable to ever, under any circumstances, revert to his former state of humanity and the lady must choose to become a vampire in order to be with him. This second type is very rare and particularly exemplified by the recent, and overwhelmingly popular, Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Other than this instance, the vast majority of the vampire-romance genre ends with the vampire being "saved" in the end.

Sorry if that is more than you wanted to know, and no, I'm not crazy enough to think vampires are real. I have just had to put a lot of thought into it while developing the vampire cocept for my current story. (No, this is not a shameless plug. Anyone who wants to read my writing knows how to find me.) I believe that to write a really good and really convincing story, you must first fully understand what it is that you want the reader to believe. If the writer cannot get lost in the story, the reader never will.

Well I think about vampires is well...it depends, I really have problems explaining what they are. But if I know one thing for cirtain its that VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE!....No offence to anyone but I have different views on vampires depending on the story. Its just that detail that I just cannot accept.

Amen to that one... I really don't get the hype over twilight, I stoped reading it when I realized how horribly it is writtern *hides from rabid fan-girls with pitchforks* but yeah... I really don't get where she thought of the whole sparkling thing...

Awww come on! What's with the Meyer hate-fest? Isn't the whole point of the vampire genre that they are mysterious and incomprehensible? Isn't there enough room in the whole world for all of these different ideas? There's no one "right" theory, so all the theories can be "right." Just read what you like and leave the rest to everyone else. I personally have enjoyed a lot of books and stories that were very different from my own "Supernatural Ideal," The Southern Vampire Mysteries, the Marked series, and Peeps, just to name a few. Just because you don't agree with every nuance of the established rules for the story, doesn't mean it's not a good story. Besides, if you ask me, Twilight isn't really a vampire story, anyway. It's really Romeo and Juliet, revisited. It is the story of a young romance that should never have happened because there is some barrier to their ultimate happiness. The big difference here isn't that the barrier is vampirism instead of stupid family, but that Meyer finds a way to allow the characters to end up happy instead of dead. The fact that they "sparkle" in the sunlight is such a minor one and the only purpose seems to create a reason for the absolutely indestructable and impermiable vampires to have to hide from the sun. Meyer was creating a new concept of vampires, but she was sticking to a lot of the preconceptions about vampires and explaining them in new ways.

Its not that I hate her... and i respect her for trying to do something different then most do with vampires, but I don't know the whole rabid fan following is sort of a turn off, I mean having to hear someone talking about the book everytime I walk down the hallway is just sort of annoying....

I have nothing against the books honest its just the sparkling thing that bugs the crap out of me...I don't see why a vampire would sparkle in the sunlight. It basically goes against the reason that vampires are so cool, they live in dark place, mysterious and awesome at the same time. I personally was a fan of the books for the mear storyline and the Romeo and Juliet affect of it to, of course that was before the whole overly popularexplosion of it. And I must admit the book wasn't written that well either, but I also appreciate the fact that she introduced her own writing affect to it. But in a contest over which I'd prefer to read Harry Potter (I don't personally like either), or Twilight, I probably pick Potter over Edward. Sorry for stating my opinion and getting someone offended.

Hey, Hey come on! This forum is not about Harry Potter nor twilight! Its about the perspective of vampires that people have. So lets not argue on this forum solely because I posted my opinion. Lets just agree to disagree, until the day we have a topic about Harry Potter vs. twilight. Then on that day it will be an all out war between wizards and vampires! *insert evil laugh here* So when that day comes we can all be at each others throats about the complete awesomeness and supremacy of the books. (Just to make things clear I am neither for or against either of the books and will probably post some random comment about an unrelated topic)